A Lexington resident was fatally shot by a police officer outside his home on Mason Street around 1:40 p.m. on Saturday, Marian Ryan, the Middlesex County district attorney, confirmed during a press conference at the Lexington Police Department around 8 p.m. on Saturday.
Ryan did not name the victim, but said he was a 26-year-old male. The family is asking for privacy to grieve.
The man had injured himself with a large kitchen knife, so another person at the house called the local police. LPD officers responded first and officers with the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, or NEMLEC, responded next.
NEMLEC officers happened to be in town to provide security during Lexington’s annual Patriots’ Day parade, which was held in the Center at 1 p.m. They “would have been called in any event,” Ryan said.
The officers removed two people from the house and left the 26-year-old male who had cut himself inside.
The male then “suddenly rushed the officers…clutching a knife,” Ryan said. Two attempts were made to use less than lethal force. A NEMLEC officer from Wilmington, MA, who was responding to the incident, then fatally shot the man. The man was killed on the scene. Asked why the man rushed the officer, Ryan said she did not know.
The incident on Saturday is reminiscent of another fatal shooting in 2022 in town. Lexington resident Brendan Reilly, who suffered from mental health problems, was shot and killed by a LPD officer after charging another LPD officer with a knife on Feb. 12 2022. Reilly was 35 years old.
Reilly’s father, Kenneth Reilly, attended the press conference regarding the shooting on Mason Street Saturday. His family is trying to get a law passed that would establish a right to emergency medical care during police and other law enforcement interactions, and require coordination of first responders during medical emergencies.
“This is something we have to change, we need cameras, the Medical Civil Rights Act needs to pass, the officers need training and support,” Kenneth told the Observer at the press conference Saturday night. “You can’t be shooting guns and killing people, this kid’s whole life is gone.”
This is truly sad. I remember back in the day police officers carried nightsticks, while low tech and less expensive than rubber and bean bag rounds, would be effective enough with a trained officer against a knife.
I wonder what kind of mental health training our PD and NEMLEC officers receive. It’s hard to understand how this could happen again four years after a similar and equally tragic incident occurred in our town. Why is there still no mandate for a mental health response to mental health emergencies?